JLS star Aston Merrygold has said he was bullied when he was younger. The boy band singer added that many of the comments he faced were racist. The 21-year-old is an ambassador for the charity Be*tbullying.
JLS star Aston Merrygold has said he was bullied when he was younger. The boy band singer added that many of the comments he faced were racist.

The 21-year-old is an ambassador for the charity Be*tbullying. He told The Sun: "When I was 13 I joined a local football squad as I had dreams of playing for my team, Arsenal.

"I was always the shortest in my side or class at school and there were some comments made, calling me 'shorty' or taking the mick.

"But I was also the only black kid in the team and the comments started to reach another level."

He added: "I'm mixed race as my mum is Irish and my dad is Jamaican. But I used to get called 'Osama Bin Laden' or 'P**i' which I just couldn't understand as it didn't make any sense.

"It was just ignorant but I decided they were never going to break me."

Aston confessed that he found the comments "very hurtful", but added: "I stayed in the team because I didn't want to run away. Now I'm trying to get somewhere with my future, and where are those guys at?"

The X Factor runner-up also criticized Strictly Come Dancing professional Anton Du Beke for using the word "P**i".
He said: "I don't know anything about the strictly row but it's not a word I would use and for me it's a racist word.
"If you use that kind of language you should realize people don't want to hear it."